Circuit breakers are commonly found in substations and are operable to selectively open and close electrical connections. With reference to FIG. 1, a conventional circuit breaker is shown, generally indicated at 10. Circuit breaker 10 is a three phase circuit breaker, and thus includes three pole assemblies 12a, 12b and 12c. Each pole assembly includes a first electrical conductor 14 carried in a first bushing 16 and a second electrical conductor (not seen) carried in a second bushing. As is known in the art, electrical power lines are coupled to first and second electrical conductors, and the circuit breaker 10 selectively opens or closes the electrical connection therebetween. A bell crank 20a, 20b, 20c, is associated with a respective pole assembly 12a, 12b and 12c. The bell cranks are interconnected by a gang-style linkage structure 22 including interconnecting shafts 23 so that all three poles assemblies are actuated at the same time by a single operating mechanism, generally indicated at 24, housed within a control cabinet 25.
With the conventional circuit breaker 10, the cabinet 25 sits below the pole assemblies 12a, 12b and 12c. This allows easy access for servicing. However, this cabinet position increases the shipping height. Thus, in preparing the conventional circuit breaker 10 for shipping, the operating mechanism, together with the control cabinet 25, is required to be disconnected from the pole assemblies 12a, 12b and 12c and certain wiring must be disconnected. This increases cost of shipping due to disassembly and reassembly time required.
Thus, there is a need to provide guide structure to enable a control cabinet, which is separate from the operating mechanism, to be moved to a shipping position without the need to disconnect any wire connections.